Legacy of Landscape: Innocenti – Webel’s Designs for the Coe’s draws from the rich archives of landscape architects Umberto Innocenti and Richard K. Webel housed at Planting Fields Foundation.

Innocenti – Webel are best known for their work on the great estates of Long Island during the 1930s for notable clients such as Howard Phipps and Evelyn Marshall Field. However, during the midcentury they designed several projects for Robert and William Coe – the two eldest Coe children – for their estates in France, Florida, and Long Island. These designs illustrate the firm’s dedication to elegance, clarity, and geometric order and serve as a lens into the lives of the Coe family.

Legacy of Landscape will showcase the range of design styles in each locale in a variety of media: historic photographs, slides, film, and sketches. In 2021, the Foundation acquired the archive of this renowned firm—an acquisition that elevates the scholarship of landscape architecture history here on Long Island and beyond.

Save the date for the exhibition opening: Friday June 20, 2025! More details on this event coming soon. 

Legacy of Landscape will be viewed on the second floor of the Main House and is included in a docent-led or self-guided tour. Book your tour now!

Sketch of Robert Coe’s estate in Cannes, France, c. 1957

William Coe at Rockledge, Mill Neck, Long Island c. 1955 (courtesy of the Coe family)

Richard K. Webel at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia c. 1950

For more information on the exhibit, please contact Michael D. Coe Archivist, Marie Penny, at mpenny@plantingfields.org.